Literary Route: Japan by Casa Asia

Literary Route JAPAN

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Literary Route Japan

Index 1.- General Introduction 2.- Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries) · The Tale of Genji · The Pillow Book · Recommendations 3.- Medieval Literature (12th-15th centuries) · The Tale of Heike 4.- Premodern Literature (15th-19th centuries) · Ihara Saikaku · Chikamatsu Monzaemon · Matsuo Basho · Recommendations 5.- Modern Literature (1868-1945) · Mori Ogai · Natsume Soseki · Ryunosuke Akutagawa · Jun’ichiro Tanizaki · Yanusari Kawabata · Recommendations

9 13 19 21 24 27 31 33 37 39 41 44 47 51 53 57 61 65 68

Index 6.- Contemporary Literature (1945 to today)

· Yukio Mishima · Kenzaburo Oé · Haruki Murakami · Banana Yoshimoto

77 81 85 89

· Recommendations

General Introduction The written tradition of Japan constitutes one of the most venerable traditions of the East. The most cultivated genres by the Japanese throughout history are not only novel, drama and poetry, but they also have a rich tradition in certain genres that are not especially appreciated in other countries, such as diaries, travel accounts and personal essays.The cultivation of these genres proves the importance of subjectivity and the private and most immediate world of the author in Japanese literature. The first written texts that are kept, Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, go back to the beginning of the 8th century, even if myths, legends and songs included in them make one believe in the existence of a rich oral tradition that was not written until the introduction of Chinese characters took place in the 5th century. The classical period of the Japanese arts covers the works produced during the Heian period (794-1185), which is considered the Golden Age of the Japanese culture. In these years an extremely refined literature is developed that is focused on the poetry and written diaries of the female circles of the Kyoto court.The climax of classical literature and for many critics also of the complete history of Japanese literature is The Tale of Genji (circa 1010), by Murasaki Shikibu.

Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters. Furukotofumi, Sacred Book of Shinto, Japan, 1803

The decadence of the court at the beginning of the 12th century made way to the medieval period, characterised by the government of the samurais and the apparition of a dark and pesimistic literature, basically made up of war chronicles and essays by Buddhist monks who live away from the horror of the world. The Premodern literature coincides with the town development of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868), where there is a boom of popular entertainment products, in form of paintings, plays, novels or poetry. In this period the figures of the novelist Ihara Saikaku, the scriptwriter Chikamatsu Monzaemon and the haiku poet Matsuo Bash么 stand out.

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General Introduction

The Modern period begins with the Meiji Restoration (1868), when Japan begins an accelerated process of westernization that is literature is expressed in the fixation of novel as the main literary genre. The two giants of the Meiji period are Ôgai Mori and Natsume Sôseki, who are the precursors of the great novelists of the first half of the 20th century such as Junichirô Tanizaki andYasunari Kawabata (1968 Nobel Prize) who write novels with an eminently aesthetical will. In the second half of the 20th century a new generation of authors that overcome the traume of the defeat of the Second World War appears and broadens the registers of the Japanese arts with new ways of expression. This generation, represented by writers as different as Yukio Mishima or Kenzaburô Ôe (1994 Nobel Prize) make the most of the diversification of the literary market to write politically committed works and aesthetically avant-garde. 10

Finally, after the decade of the 1980's a new generation of authors led by Haruki Murakami and Yoshimoto Banana arise, who were born after the war and in whose novels focus on the disorientation and loneliness inhabitants of large cities such as Tokyo often feel.

Title: Antología de la literatura japonesa : desde los orígenes hasta el siglo XX / Selection and introduction by Michel Revon; translation by Mercè Comes of the french version by Michel Revon; prologue by Juan Vernet Publication: Barcelona · Círculo de Lectores, DL 2000 Description: 569 pages; 21 cm

Literary Route Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries) What we know as Japanese ancient literature is made up of three books that were compiled during the Nara period (710-794) that are the the most ancient of those preserved: it consists of two historical chronicles Kojiki and Nihon shoki, and of a poetic anthology known as Man’yôshû. As its title indicates, Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712) is a collection of different events of Antiquity, beginning with the foundational myths of Japan reaching the historical facts of the 7th century. Written in a mixture of classical Chinese and Japanese, it is considered the first Japanese literary work, even if it was compiled by the Emperor to build a strong national identity around him. Kojiki especially has a symbolic value (certain fragments are sacred for Shintoism), whereas its literary value is especially within the hundred of poems included in the texts, which allow one to get an idea of the poetry that was orally circulating around in the previous centuries, even before the adoption of Chinese writing around the 5th century.

On the other hand, Nihon shoki (The Chronicles of Japan, 720), which is written in classical Chinese, is a chronological collection of myths and historical facts that, as well as Kojiki, goes from the creation of Japan until the events of the 7th century.

Title: Kojiki: crónicas de antiguos hechos de Japón / Translation of the japanese by Carlos Rubio and Rumi Tani Moratalla Publication: Madrid · Trotta, DL 2008 Description: 282 pages; 25 cm

Man’yôshû (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves, circa 759), on the other hand, is a poetic anthology that can be considered the first work with an indisputable literary value that has been preserved. The more than 4500 poems it includes are written by poets from different origins, from emperors to straighforward people, throughout more than four centuries. Man’yôshû's poetry surprises for its simplicity and the emotion of the feelings expressed, which is missed sometimes in the subsequent poetic tradition, more based on retorics. Man’yôshû is also important in the history of Japanese literature because it is the first book entirely written in man’yôgana, a complicated system that combines classical Chinese and Japanese and that is a step before the invention of the kana syllabary (phonetic writing).

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Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries)

Unlike ancient literature, from where there are only three known titles that we have just mentioned, Japanese classical literature is rich in works and originality. In fact, the Classical period, which coincides with the Historial Heian period (794-1185), is normally defined as the Golden Age of Japanese arts, especially thanks to the refined aristocratic culture that is developed in the reduced circle of the Kyoto court. The first texts of the Heian period are still in classical Chinese (language that will be used until the 19th century), but the invention and spreading of the kana syllabaries around the mid-19th century favour the development of an autoctonous literature, in poetry and prose, that moves away from the models of the Chinese traditions. Around 880, they begin to compose poetry in kana, and in 905 Kokinshû or Kokin Wakashû (Collection of Japanese Ancient and Modern Poems), which is most important imperial anthology of the time. Most of the 1111 poems of Kokinshû are written by members of the court and already have the Japanese form of tanka (poetry of 31 syllables, distributed in verses of 5-7-5-7-7). The work is organised in twenty volumes sorted out according to the topics the poems approach. The most numerous are those devoted to nature and seasons, followed by love, travel, elegiac and greeting compositions. Apart from the poems it collects, Kokinshû is also important because the opinions expressed by its compilers in the prologue fix a poetic model based on the rethorical and formal perfection that will mark the production of all the Japanese poetry until the 15th century.

Title: Kokinshuu: colección de poemas japoneses antiguos y modernos / Selection, translation, introduction and notes by Carlos Rubio Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, cop. 2005 Description: 248 pages; il.; 20 cm

Moreover, the invention of the kana syllabaries favours the birth of the literary prose written in Japanese at the beginning of the 10th century, especially in the form of tales (monogatari), poetic stories (uta-monogatari), diaries (nikki) or essays based on personal impressions (zuihitsu). The first works written in kana are The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori monogatari, circa 909), which is a fantastic story about

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Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries)

a princess that comes from the moon; Tosa's Diary (Tosa nikki, 936), a travel diary with many interweaved poems and Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari, circa 980), a collection of episodes made up of a poetry and a fragment in prose that explains the poetry or the circumstances it was written in. However, the two paradigmatic examples of Japanese classical literature go back to the 11th century and arise from the female literary circles made up in the court. It consists of the epic novel The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari, circa 1010), by Murasaki Shikibu, and of the essay The Pillow Book (Makura no s么shi, circa 1000), by Sei Sh么nagon, which evolve around the life and intrigues of the aristocracy. After the period of splendour of the 11th century, the Kyoto court enters a decline stage at the beginning of the 12th century, which invovles a progressive loss of creativity in literature. At the same time, however, the first collections of stories, anecdotes and popular songs appear that portray elements of society that had not been treated until then and that announced the transition towards the Medieval period.

Title: El cuento del cortador de bamb煤 / Translation of the japanese and edition by Kayoko Takagi Publication: Madrid 路 Trotta; Paris: Unesco, 2002 Description: 115 pages; 20 cm

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Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries) The Tale of Genji The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari, circa 1010), written by the courtesan Murasaki Shikibu (circa 978-1014), is considered to be one of the most important works of Japanese literature for its extension and for its content and literary quality. Likewise, it is also considered as the first great fiction work of universal literature. The 54 chapters of the novel are a fascinating travel around everyday life of the court during the Heian period -customs, entertainment, moral code, etc.-. The period is recreated in an exquisite manner from the political and love affairs of Prince Genji, a complex and contradictory character that causes pain and misfortunes to the women he loves. In fact, The Tale of Genji could be classified as a psychological novel, which is still surprising given the scarce tradition that held it together. Despite the profusion of scenes of a memorable beauty, the general tone of the work is pesimistic and, especially in the final chapters, the Buddhist principles of mujô (impermanence) and aware (transience). An example of this pesimistic tone is the poetry where Prince Genji is sorry about the death of his lover:

Look down upon me from your cloudy summit, Upon the dying autumm which is my world.

Title: La historia de Genji / Murasaki Shikibu; edition by Royall Tyler; translation by Jordi Fibla Publication: Barcelona · Atalanta, 2005-2006 Description: 2 volums, 916 pages; il.; 25 cm

The Tale of Genji has had an enormous influence in later Japanese literature and art. for example, it is one of the main sources of nô theatre, and many adaptations have been made for kabuki theatre, film and television. Moreover, Japanese authors such as Yasunari Kawabata or Junichirô Tanizaki, or Westerners such as Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, or Marguerite Yourcenar, have been influenced by this work.

1Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji. Translation of the japanese by Edward G. Seidensticker. Publication: New York · Knopf, 1992 · Description: xxv, 1184 p.; 21 cm, Pág. 773

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Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries) The Pillow Book The Pillow Book (Makura no sôshi, circa 1000), written by the courtesan Sei Shônagon (966-1025), is an essay based on a series of tales, reflections, imaginary scenes or simply lists of things or concepts that the author likes or dislikes. It is unknown if the title is generic or if Sei Shônagon chose it on purpose, but the existence of numerous similar texts from the Heian period makes us think that it was common for so many men and women of the court to keep this kind of diaries in their rooms. The main topics in The Pillow Book are love intrigues, often narrated in a realistic and satirical way, and the descriptions of nature that later have been admired and imitated for their liveliness and sensitivity. The following disgression about seasons that opens the book, in version of Ken Richard (Makura no sôshi / The Pillow Book) is a typical example of the tone and style of Sei Shônagon:

Spring is best at dawn as gradually the hilltops lighten, while, the light grows brighter until there are purple-tinged clouds trailing though the sky. Summer is best at night.That goes without saying when there is a full moon. But when fireflies flit here and there in a dark sky, that too is wonderful. It is even wonderful when it is raining.

Title: El Libro de la Almohada / Sei Shônagon; translation, prologue and notes by Amalia Sato Publication: Buenos Aires · Adriana Hidalgo, cop. 2002 Description: 319 pages; 23 cm

Autumn is best at dusk as the hills, now in the full direct sunlight, seem quite closer, and as crows fly away from ones vantage point into their nesting places in threes, then in fours, then in pairs; how moving it is, this combination of light and darkness. It is more wonderful even when geese and the like, in formation, fly away and become specks in the sky.The sun finally sets, and then it is the sound of the wind, and the chirupping of insects. Winter is best at the time of early morning prayers, particularly when it has been snowing.When the ground is frosty and very white, or even when it isn’t and blazing coals are being hurried around, in the extreme cold, to all the room heaters, this too is full of interest. But by noon when the coals have cooled, leaving only gray ash in the big oval braziers and in our smaller round ones, I feel deprived.”

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Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries) The Pillow Book

Just like The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book is a witness of great value to get to know about the everyday life of the court during the Heian period. However, the main difference between both works is the tone with which the facts are narrated: whereas The Tale of Genji is full of pesimism (aware), The Pillow Book is highlighted for its light and comical style (i), which is because of the craftiness of its author.

Title: El libro de la almohada de la dama Sei Shonagon / Sei Shônagon; spanish version of the japanese, notes and comments by Iván A. Pinto and Oswaldo Gavidia Cannon, in special collaboration with d’Hiroko Izumi Shimon Publication: Lima · Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2002 Description: 534 pages; il. col.; 21 cm

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Ancient And Classical Literature (8th-12th Centuries) Recommendations Title: Diarios de damas de la corte Heian / Izumi Shikibu, Murasaki Shikibu; version, notes and appendix byXavier Roca-Ferrer; introduction by Amy Lowell Publication: Barcelona · Destino, 2007 Description: 237 pages; 24 cm

Title: Cantares de Ise / Ise Monogatari; translation, presentation and epilogue by Antonio Cabezas García Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, 1988 Description: 166 pages; il.; 20 cm

Title: Manioshu : colección para diez mil generaciones / Translation, presentation and notes by Antonio Cabezas García Publication: Madrid · Ediciones Hiperión, 1980 Descriptiom: 219 pages; 21 cm

Title: Diari de Tosa / Ki no Tsurayuki; translation of the japanese and introduction by Jordi Mas López Publication: Barcelona · Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2009 Description: 67 pages; 30 cm

Title: Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 / Translation of the original chinese and japanese by W.G. Aston; introduction to new edition by Terence Barrow Publication: Boston · Tuttle, 2005 Description: XXIV, 443 pages; il.; 21 cm

Title: La historia de Genji / Murasaki Shikibu; edition by Royall Tyler; translation by Jordi Fibla Publication: Barcelona · Atalanta, 2005-2006 Description: 2 volums, 916 pages; il.; 25 cm

Literary Route Medieval Literature (12th – 16th centuries) After the splendour of the Classical period, Japanese Medieval literature, which coincides with the historical periods of Kamakura (1185-1333), Muromachi (1336-1573) and Azuchi-Momoyama (15681603), is infected by the convulse climate and by the civil wars the country is living and turns to darkness and disappointment. The works that are produced during the Medieval period make up what we could call “aesthetics of discontent” and reflect, on the one hand, the warrior values of the samurais (which are who hold the power) and on the other, the principles of Zen Buddhism (which becomes a kind of shelter before the war and destruction environment). Literary production moves from the court to Buddhist monasteries and to the castles of the daimyos (feudal lords), which is why instead of members of the court, the writers in this period are basically monks, warriors or travellers. The woman stand below in this new social order, which explains the disappearance of female diaries and essays that had been so successful during the Heian period (in fact, between the 13th and 19th centuries we cannot find any really important female writer).

Regarding prose, the medieval literary genre par excellence are the called gunki monogatari (or war reports), the most highlighted example is The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari, circa 1220), a great epic novel that stands out for its elegiac tone.

Title: Un relato desde mi choza (Hoojooki) / Kamo no Choomei; translation of the japanese, introduction and notes by Jesús Carlos Álvarez Crespo Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, DL 1998 Description: 129 pages; il.; map.; 20 cm

The other prose genres that are especially cultivated during the first half of the Medieval period (12th-14th centuries) are travel diaries, religious or popular origin story collections and essays written by Buddhist monks. Among these essays, which make up a subgenre known as “seclusion tales” and that have touches of the same pessimistic tone as The Tale of the Heike, the following two titles stand out: Hôjôki:Visions of a TornWorld (Hôjô-ki, 1212), by Kamo no Chômei (11531216), where the author approaches his voluntary separation of a world shaken by war and natural disasters, and Tsurezuregusa

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Medieval Literature (12th – 16th centuries)

(Tsurezuregusa, circa 1330), by Yoshida Kenkô (1283-1350), where the author shows his nostalgic vision of the world based on the Buddhist principles. In poetry the imperial waka imperial anthologies are still edited, which are more and more rhetorical and within the fixed model in the prologue of Kokinshû. The most important novelty in poetry is the development of renga or linked poems (14th century) when two or more poets compose tankas alternated until they make up a long poem. Towards the second half of the Medieval period (15th and 16th centuries) prose clearly begins to decline and the only literary novelties that could be mentioned are the birth of nô theatre, represented by the sophisticated and elegant works by the scriptwriter Zeami (13631443), and the appearance of haiku (17 syllable poems, distributed 5-7-5) from the renga.

Title: Fushikaden: tratado sobre la práctica del teatro No y cuatro dramas No / Zeami; edition and translation of the japanese by Javier Rubiera and Hidehito Higashitani Publication: Madrid · Trotta, cop. 1999 Description: 297 pages; il.; 20 cm

2Kenko Yoshida.Tsurezuregusa: ocurrencias de un ocioso. Translation, presentation and notes by Justino Rodríguez. Madrid · Hiperión, 1996. p. 209

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Medieval Literature (12th – 16th centuries) The Tale of Heike The Tale of Heike (Heike monogatari, circa 1220) is the most important work of Japanese Medieval literature. It looks as though it began being compiled by a noble of the court basing on the tales recited be travelling monks to narrate the wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans that took place at the end of the 12th century and that involved the end of the Imperial Regime. This oral transmission method could explain the many existing text versions, as well as the tragic and elegiac tone of the novel. Even though at a first sight it seems as though The Tale of Heike is a simple epic narration full of war scenes, it is a work with a highly lyrical tone that shows us the warriors not only in the middle of a battle, but also in calm and reflection moments. More that martial heroic deeds, the topic of the book is the progressive decline of the Taira clan, which is why the background message is that any circumstance of human life –glory, victory, power- is ephemeral and transitory.

In this way, the famous parragraph that opens the novel, which evokes the Buddhist principle of impermancence of things in this world (mujô), already shows the tone that will dominate all through the work. This can be seen in the following translation by Helen McCullough (Heike Monogatari)

Title: Heike monogatari / Introduction and notes by Carlos Rubio López de la Llave; translation by Rumi Tani Moratalla and Carlos Rubio López de la Llave Publication: Madrid · Gredos, cop. 2005 Description: 854 pages; il., map, taules; 21 cm

The sound of the Gion Sh?ja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the s?la flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.” Some of the love or war tales in The Tale of Heike influence many works of nô theatre.

Literary Route Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries) The Tokugawa period (1600-1868) is characterised by being a long period of peace and stability that favoured the development of the great cities (Kyoto, Osaka and Edo, the current Tokyo) and the birth of an urban class with growing economic power. The trading class (chônin) becomes the main developer of the artistic disciplines and of the different leisure activities in the pleasure neighbourhoods of the great cities (the called ukiyo or “floating world”). In the field of literature, the abundant production of plays, entertainment novels and haiku poetry stand out. The boom of this urban and popular culture particularly took place in a short but intense blooming of the cultural activity known as Genrou period (1688-1704). In this short period the first professional writers appeared, among which three giants of the Japanese arts stand out: the novelist Ihara Saikaku, who portrays with a great dose of realism the life of a trading class of Osaka; the scriptwriter Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who dazzles with his theatre scripts; and the poet Matsuo Bashô, who writes some of the most memorable haikus of the history of Japanese literature.

After the Genroku period, literary creation continues, but the works that are produced start being repetitive and have less quality.

Woman with child and dog Utagama Yoshifuji (1828-1887)

Regarding prose, the fiction production abounds, especially light and satirical stories that are normally under the derogatory name of gesaku. The objective of gesaku is not to write beautiful or perfect texts, but to entertain and achieve a massive public. Normally these stories are profusely illustrated, and when a story is successful consequences of this story are still written as long as the public accepts them. Maybe the only writer of the second half of the Tokugawa period that kept out of this tendency is Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) who is highlighted for his elaborate and shiny style. His best known work, Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari, 1776), is a collection

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries)

of supernatural character stories that influenced one of the most famous films by the director Kenji Mizoguchi (Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon after the Rain, 1953). Regarding poetry,Yosa Buson (1716-1783), who introduces a romantic component in haikus and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), who gives it a more popular touch, stand out. So, at the end of the Tokugawa period Japanese literature has a quite low quality level. It is a tired literature and, as well as the country, locked in itself that will not be able to reactivate without the introduction of new influences from abroad.

Title: Cuentos de lluvia y de luna / Ueda Akinari; translation of the original japanese, introduction, notes and comments by Kazuya Sakai Publication: Madrid 路 Trotta, cop. 2002 Description: 268 pages; 19 cm

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries) Ihara Saikaku Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) is the most important novelist of the Tokugawa period. His works, known as ukiyo-zôshi (or tales of a floating world), recreate the culture and characters of the pleasure neighbourhoods of the great cities. The combination of a lively and shiny style with the pity he shows for his characters allow his stories not to only have a pornographic tone and to become works with a true literary interest. Saikaku’s first novel, The Life of an Amorous Man (Kôshoku ichidai otoko, 1682) is an inflection in Japanese fiction because it gives Japanese novels a degree of realism unseen since The Tale of Genji. As the title announces, it is a novel that narrates the love adventures of the male main character, from his first sexual attempts at childhood to his final decision, already in old age, to go to an island where there are only women.

Despite this, Saikaku’s masterpiece is FiveWomen who Love Love (Koshoku gonin onna, 1686), which describes for the first time the love life of the five female characters that are not prostitutes but women from families of traders. The work is divided in five independent chapters, where Saikaku describes certain real events that had taken place not too long ago and that many people knew thanks to the storytellers in the streets.

Title: Cinco amantes apasionadas / Ijara Saikaku; translation of the japanese by Javier Sologuren and Akira Sugiyama Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, 1993 Description: 177 pages; il.; 20 cm

One of the characteristics of FiveWomen who Love Love is the inclusion of many moral judgements and direct and moving images, as it can be seen in the following fragment, in the version by William Theodore de Bary (FiveWomenWho Loved Love / Ihara Saikaku) ...There was in the capital a band of four inseparable young men who were known for their handsome appearance and riotous living. ... After the theater one evening they were lounging around a tea shop called Matsuya and one of them remarked, "I have never seen so many good looking

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries)

local girls as I did today. Do you suppose we could find others who would seem just as beautiful now?" They thought they might, and decided to watch for pretty girls among the people who had gone to see the wisteria blossoms and were now returning to their homes. After a worldly actor in the group had been chosen as chief judge, a beauty contest was conducted until the twilight hours, providing a new source of amusement for the jaded gentlemen. At first they were disappointed to see some maids riding in a carriage which hid them from sight.Then a group of girls strolled by in a rollicking mood — "not bad, not bad at all" — but none of the girls quite satisfied their exacting standards. Paper and ink had been brought to record their entries, and it was agreed that only the best should be put on their list. ... Next they spied a lady of thirty-four or thirty-five with a graceful long neck and intelligent-looking eyes, above which could be seen a natural hairline of rare beauty. ... Underneath she wore white satin, over that light blue satin, and outside — reddish-yellow satin. ... Assuredly this was a woman of exquisite taste. ... Around her head she had draped a veil like that worn by court ladies; she wore stockings of pale silk and sandals with triple braided straps. She walked noiselessly and gracefully, moving her hips with a natural rhythm. "What a prize for some lucky fellow!" a young buck exclaimed. But these words were hardly uttered when the lady, speaking to an attendant, opened her mouth and disclosed that one of her lower teeth was missing, to the complete disillusionment of her admirers.”

Title: FiveWomen who Loved Love/ Ijara Saikaku Publication: Japan · Tuttle Publishing, 2003 Description: 177 pages; il.; 20 cm

Towards the end of his career, Saikau writes a series of works full of humour but that also contain bitterness about the ruse of the trading class to make money or to survive.

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries) Chikamatsu Monzaemon Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) is the most important Japanese scriptwriter of all times. Most of Chikamatsu’s works (more than a hundred) are written for puppet theatre (jôruri), which in the 18th century is also one of the most popular entertainments in the region of Kyoto and Osaka, even if he also writes some kabuki plays planned to show some of the most famous actors of the time. In Chikamatsu’s production we can distinguish two kinds of works. On the one hand, we find period dramas based on historical facts or legends that stand out for their plumage represented on a stage. On the other, we find domestic tragedies, placed in the contemporary world of the author and with a dramatic conception more similar to the European theatre of the time. Among the domestic dramas, we highlight The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (Sonezaki Shinjû, 1703) and The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjû ten no Amijima, 1720), both with a tragic ending typical of Chikamatsu, based on double suicides. Curiously this kind of works called shinjû mono inspired severals suicides in real life, so the government banned them in 1723.The following fragment, in the English version of Asataro Miyamori, corresponds to The Love Suicides of Amijima:

So long as it remains true that “the ocean cannot be emptied with a tiny shijimi shell so long may we say love will exert its dominion over the human heart; and well may Sonézaki-Shinchi, the quarter of light-o’– loves in Osaka, be called an ocean of love, and it does not seem mere chance that the river running by the quarter is called Shijimi.

Title: Los amantes suicidas de Amijama / Monzaemon Chikamatsu; translation of the japanese and edition by Jaime Fernández Publication: Madrid · Trotta; [Paris] · Unesco, cop. 2000 Description: 131 pages; 20 cm

Ther early winter’s evening at Sonézaki-Shinchi glimmered, softly illumined by the inscribed lanterns of the tea-houses.Through the thronged streets young rakes were strolling, singing folk-songs as they went, reciting fragments of puppet dramas or imitating famous actors at their dialogues. From the upper room of many teahouse floated the gay plucking samisen, and so witching was the music as to entice certain of the frequanters of the district to viit the courtesans. Others, who had donned disguise, more freely to enjoy the merry atmosphere of the streets, being detected by the tea-house maids, were beguiled into visiting thins or that house. The bridges spanning the Shikimi River are named “Plum-Blossom” and “CherryBlossom”; and in this district, among the numerous girls, no less lovely than these flowers, was a damsel of supreme beauty named Koharu of the brothel Kinokuni-ya. Escorted by Sugi, her maid, she was even now about to pass a lanter hung out as a sign, pondering the while who would be her patron this coming night, when another of the sisterhood, on the way back to her master’s brothel, halted beside her.

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries) Matsuo Basho Matsuo Bashô (1644-1694) is considered the most important haijin (haiku poets) and one of the most outstanding figures of the history of Japanese literature. Thanks to his haiku anthologies and to his travel tales, he made haiku go from being a simple comical verse based on a word game to become an independent and respected poetic form. Bashô’s poetry is characterised by an extremely simple language with no artificiality, as well as for a search for a fleeting moment of illumination that was typical in Zen Buddhism. In fact, the definition that Bashô himself made of haikus, described as “what happens in a certain place at a certain time”. The simple images Bashô’s haikus are based on, directly extracted from nature and contemplative life, portray ephemeral moments of human experience that show some spiritual or trascendental elements. This is the case, for example, of his most famous composition, which we present in its Spanish version by Fernando Rodríguez Izquierdo:

Furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto Un viejo estanque, / al zambullirse una rana / ruido de agua

Title: Marea baixa: haikús de primavera i d'estiu /Selection and translation by Jordi Pagès and J. N. Santaeulàlia; japanese calligraphy by Harumi Saito Publication: Barcelona · La Magrana, 1997 Description: 138 pages; il.; 23 cm

Bashô is famous for his travel tales, appreciated not only because of the haikus that describe the beauty of the places he goes through, but also for the delicate fragments in prose that accompany the poems. Among these diaries, we highlight The Narrow Road to the Interior (Oku no hosomichi, 1702), without a doubt the most popular title of all of the Tokugawa period, where we can continue the pilgrimage of the poet around the Northeast region of Japan, in a route that many admirers of the poet still follow in the present. The following fragment, in the translation by Donald Keene corresponds to the episode that opens the book:

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries) Matsuo Basho “The months and days are the travelers of eternity.The years that come and go are also voyagers. Those who float away their lives on ships or who grow old leading horses are forever journeying, and their homes are wherever their travels take them. Many of the men of old died on the road, and I too for years past have been stirred by the sight of a solitary cloud drifting with the wind to ceaseless thoughts of roaming. [...] I patched my torn trousers and changed the cord on my bamboo hat. To strengthen my legs for the journey I had moxa burned on my shins. By then I could think of nothing but the moon at Matsushima .When I sold my cottage and moved to Samp?’s villa, to stay until I started on my journey, I hung this poem on a post in my hut: Even a thatched hut May change with a new owner Into a doll’s house. This became the first of an eight-verse sequence.”

Title: Senda hacia tierras hondas / Matsuo Bashõ; Spanish version by Antonio Cabezas Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, cop. 1993 Description: 107 pages; 20 cm

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Premodern Literature (17th-19th centuries) Recommendations Title: Amores de un vividor / Saikaku Ihara; prologue, translation and notes by Fernando RodríguezIzquierdo Publication: Madrid · Alfaguara, 2003 Description: LXII, 407 pages; 20 cm

Títol: Selección de jaikus / Yosa Buson; traducció de Justino Rodríguez, Kimi Nishio i Seiko Ota Publicació: Madrid · Hiperión, 1992 Descripció: 100 pàgines; 20 cm

Title: El haiku japonés: historia y traducción / Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, 2001 Description: 454 pages; 20 cm

Title: Cincuenta haikus / Issa Kobayashi; translation by Ricardo de la Fuente and Shinjiro Hirosaki; introduction and notes by Ricardo de la Fuente Publication: Madrid · Hiperión, 1997 Description: 92 pàgines; 20 cm

Title: Haiku-dô: el haiku como camino espiritual / Selection, translation and comments by Vicente Haya; in collaboration with Akiko Yamada Publication: Madrid · Kairós, 2007 Description: 212 pages; 20 cm

Title: Haiku de las cuatro estaciones / Matsuo Basho; introduction and translation by Francisco F. Villalba Publication: Madrid · Miraguano, 1994 Description: 91 pages; il.; 20 cm + book (XV p.)

Literary Route Modern Literature (1868-1945) After the stagnation that involved the last years of the Tokugawa period, Japan and Japanese literatura enter Modernity thanks to the avalanche of influences that arrive from the West during the Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishô periods (1912-1926), which almost moved the influence of the Chinese influence permanently. Thanks to many translations that were carried out during the first years of Meiji, novel begins to be considered a serious and respectable genre, and not as form of literature that aims to entertainment, as it happened with gesaku in the Tokugawa period. As it is logical, the literary currents that have more influence on Japanese writers are Romanticism, Symbolism and, especially, Naturalism, which are the most important European movements of the time. However, novels that are written in Japan between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th are not related to the European romansfleuves and include certain peculiarities of Japanese literature, such as the intimist tone or a certain tendency to dispersion, which will end up with the birth of the watashi-shôsetsu (or personal novel) genre, excessively confessional and focused on the intimate world of the author.

But curiously, the two most important novelists of the Meiji period, Mori Ôgai and Natsume Sôseki, keep away from any current and, combining their classical education with new Western models, they are able to create a work closer to realism which gives nova Japanese novel a true literary value at the beginning of the century. A young nobleman from Sazuma © Felice Beato

Another important event in the world of arts is the gradual abandonment of the literary language, full of classical and Chinese terms, in favour of a colloquial language.The first example of a novel written in the new standard is The Drifting Cloud (Ukigumo, 1887), by Futabatei Shimei. From this moment most writers follow Futabatei’s example and towards 1910 even newspapers have adopted the new language model.

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) During the Taishô there was a boom of creativity without precedents in Japanese arts, starred by a group of novelists such as Kafû Nagai (1879-1959), Junichirô Tanizaki (1886-1965), Shiga Naoya (1883-1971) or Ryûnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), who create novels with a clear will for aesthetic renewal but do not stop reflecting the tension between tradition (Oriental) and Modernity (Western). The aggressive military policy of Japan during the first years of the Shôwa period (1926-1945) makes literature become full of ideology and at the service of the government, with few dissident voices. Maybe the only counterpoint to official literature is the movement of proletarian literature, led by Tajiki Kobayashi (1903-1933) and his The Crab Ship (Kanikosen, 1929), which has lately become a surprising bestseller in Japan.

Title: Kanikosen, el pesquero / Takiji Kobayashi Publication: Barcelona · Ático de los libros, 2010 Description: 146 pages; 21 cm

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Mori Ogai Mori Ôgai (1862-1922) is considered, together with Natsume Sôseki, as one of the most influential intellectuals of the Meiji period. Ôgai is a versatile character that is highlighted in all fields he works on (medicine, military career, history, translation, critic and literary creation) and his work goes beyond strictly literary value to become a valuable chronicle of the modernization of Japan. The first literary period of Ôgai is strongly influenced by romantic ideas, which he knows very well because of a studies period in Germany (1884-1888). When he returned to Japan, Ôgai translated several works by German authors (Goethe, Schiller, etc.) and published some romantic tales, among which The Dancing Girl (Maihime, 1890) stands out, a tragic love story between a Japanese young man who lives in Berlin and a humble origin German dancer. After this first romantic period, Ôgai moves away from the autobiographic and confessional tone of the novels his contemporaries wrote and he created a series of antinaturalist works with which he manages to make Japanese fiction successful. Among the most highlighted titles we find TheWild Geese (Gan, 1911-1913), which tells a love story with a surprising psychological depth from the point of view of a young woman forced to marry an older usurer and Vita sexualis (Wita sekusuarisu, 1909), a parody of naturalist literature where a veteran teacher ironically summarises the role sex has played in his life. In the following paragraph, translated by Kazuji Ninomiya y Sandford Goldstein, we will see the reflections naturalist literature awakens on the starring teacher:

Title: Vita sexualis: el aprendizaje de Shizu / Ogai Mori; translation of the original japanese by Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo Gavala Publication: Madrid · Trotta; [París] · Unesco, cop. 200 Description: 181 pages; 20 cm

Each time he read a naturalistic novel, he discovered that the author never failed to use every occasion in daily life to represent his hero in reference to sexual desireand that the critics themselves acknowledged these novels accurately depicted life.At the same time he was wondering if such representations were actually true to life,he suspected that perhaps unlike the rest of the human race he might be indifferentto such desires, that he might have an extraordinary natural disposition which mightbe called frigitas.”

Modern Literature (1868-1945)

Literary Route Natsume Soseki

Natsume Sôseki (1867-1916) is probably the most popular novelist of modern Japan. Unlike Ôgai, whose work is reserved to intellectual circles, Sôseki’s works are read even today by a broad and varied public that enjoys his first novels, light and humouristic, and his mature creations, character portrays that suffer the tensions the arrival of modernity in Japan involved. Among Sôseki’s first production, we highlight I am a Cat (Wagahai wa neko de aru, 1905), a satire based on the observations of the world of humans by a cat who ridiculises the snobbism of intellectuals who are excited with any idea coming from the West. The humouristic tone of I am a Cat is still present in Sôseki’s most popular novel, Botchan (Botchan, 1906), which tells the story of a young teacher from Tokyo sent to a rural school. Despite the similarities with the situation Sôseki himself had lived, Botchan avoids the confessional tone of naturalist literature and is clearly a fiction work that bases its merit in humour and innocence that arise from the adventures of the main character.

Title: Soy un gato: selección de episodios / Soseki Natsume; translation and selection by Montse Watkins Publication: Japan · Luna Books; Tokio, Gendaikikakushitsu, 1996 Description: 131 pages; 21 cm

Towards the last years of his life, Sôseki, full of constant health problems, created works that make Japanese novel to achieve a degree of psychological depth without precedents.The key title of this period, with a darker and more pessimistic tone, is Kokoro (Kokoro, 1914), which tells the story of the relationship between a young student and an intellectual who live away from the world. In the first two parts of the novel, narrated from the student’s point of view, we are before the development of the friendship between both characters. The initial fascination that the student feels towards sensei slowly becomes an intense curiosity when he realizes that behind that pessimistic attitude of his teacher there is a mystery. In the third part, the narrative point of view goes from the student’s to the sensei’s through a letter where he reveals his past and the secret that has tortured him all his life. It consists of a kind of spiritual will of Sôseki himself where we find exceptional moments of lyricism and depth, such as the following fragment, translated by Edwin McClellan:

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Natsume Soseki “To you alone, then, among the millions of Japanese, I wish to tell my past. For you are sincere; and because once you said in all sincerity that you wished to learn from life itself. Without hesitation, I am about to force you into the shadows of this dark world of ours. But you must not fear. Gaze steadily into the shadows and then take whatever will be of use to you in your own life.When I speak of darkness, I mean moral darkness. For I was born an ethical creature, and I was brought up to be an ethical man. True, my ethics may be different from those of the young men of today. But they are at least my own. I did not borrow them for the sake of convenience as a man might a dress suit. It is for this reason that I think you, who wish to grow, may learn something from my experience.” Kokoro, que podría traducirse como “corazón”, “alma”, “sentimiento” o “espíritu”, ha hecho que Sôseki sea considerado con todo merecimiento como el padre de la literatura japonesa moderna. 57

Title: Kokoro / Natsume Soseki; introduction, translation and notes by Carlos Rubio Publication: Madrid · Gredos, 2009 Description: 327 pages; map; 22 cm

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Ryunosuke Akutagawa Ryûnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is the story writer par excellence of modern Japan. His works, notable by his construction and virtuous style, often deepen into the darkest side of human nature, and are a sharp criticism of hypocrisy and selfishness. Great expert of Chinese and Japanese classics, but also of Western literature, from where he admires authors such as Poe, Ibsen, Baudelaire or Wilde, Akutagawa begins a literary career when he is very young that will take him to write some stories that are told among masterpieces of Japanese literature. Many of these stories are inspired in material extracted from old stories and Akutagawa’s merit is to wrap them with a modern and precise prose and given them a touch of sophistication and mystery that make him unmistakable. This is what he does, for example, in Rashômon (1915) or The Nose (Hana, 1916), but especially in In a Grove (Yabu no naka, 1922), a technically very complex tale where the reader puzzled follows the contradictory declarations of seven characters that have been involved in a killing case. It is worth mentioning that the story that serves as a base for the famous film Rashômon (1950), by Akira Kurosawa, is In a Grove and not Rashômon.

In the following fragment, in its English version by Takashi Kojima (In a grove / Akutagawa) is the declaration that opens the story:

Title: Rashomon and seventeen other stories / Ryunosuke Akutagawa; selection, translation and notes by Jay Rubin; introduction by Haruki Murakami Publication: New York, London · Penguin Books, 2006 Description: LI, 268 pages; 20 cm

“Yes, sir. Certainly, it was I who found the body.This morning, as usual, I went to cut my daily quota of cedars, when I found the body in a grove in a hollow in the mountains. The exact location? About 150 meters off the Yamashina stage road. It's an out-of-the-way grove of bamboo and cedars. The body was lying flat on its back dressed in a bluish silk kimono and a wrinkled head-dress of the Kyoto style. A single sword-stroke had pierced the breast.The fallen bamboo-blades around it were stained with bloody blossoms. No, the blood was no longer running.The wound had dried up, I believe. And also, a gad-fly was stuck fast there, hardly noticing my footsteps. You ask me if I saw a sword or any such thing?

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Ryunosuke Akutagawa No, nothing, sir. I found only a rope at the root of a cedar near by. And . . . well, in addition to a rope, I found a comb.That was all. Apparently he must have made a battle of it before he was murdered, because the grass and fallen bamboo-blades had been trampled down all around.â&#x20AC;? Unfortunately, the fragmentation of reality that Akutagawa advances in In a Grove becomes a constant of the last years of his life, where since his youth he suffers constant physical and mental problems. From 1923 Akutagawa writes autobiographic stories that, more than building a coherent witness of his life, reveal the confused and depressive state he is in. physically and mentally worn out, he commits suicide in 1927 when he was hardly 35.

Title: Rashomon: and Other Stories / Ryunosuke Akutagawa; translation by Takashi Kojima; introduction by Howard Hibbet Publication: Boston Âˇ Tuttle, cop. 1952 Description: 102 pages; 20 cm

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Jun’ichiro Tanizaki Jun’ichirô Tanizaki (1886-1965) might be the most imaginative and tasteful fiction writer fiction has given modern Japanese literature. The topics that define his work are sexual obsession (often approached in masochistic and fetishistict terms) and the cultural confusion that Modernity causes in Japan. Tanizaki’s work presents three different stages. The first one is marked by the influence of the Western culture and the cosmopolitanism that ruled in Tokyo during the Taishô period (1912-1926). One of the most paradigmatic examples of the production of this first period is Naomi (Chijin no ai, 1924) where Tanizaki talks about the fascination a young Japanese man feels for a Western waitress. The second period begins with the great earthquake that devastated Tokyo in 1923, from which Tanizaki moves to the region of Kansai, to the West of Japan, where he starts to be interested in classic Japanese literature and in the most traditional aspects of his country. In this second period we highlight In Praise of Shadows (In’ei raisan, 1934), a kind of essay praised by the Japanese aesthetic tradition. The next fragment, in Thomas Harper y Edward Seidensticker’s version (In praise of Shadows / Tanizaki) where Tanizai describes Japanese lavatories, is especially famous:

Title: El elogio de la sombra / Junichiro Tanizaki; translation by Julia Escobar Publication: Madrid · Siruela, 2001 Description: 95 pages; 15 cm

As I have said there are certain prerequisites: a degree of dimness, absolute cleanliness, and a quiet so complete one can hear the hum of a mosquito. I love to listen from such a toilet to the sound of softly falling rain, especially if it is a toilet of the Kant? region, with its long, narrow windows at the floor level; there one can listen with such a sense of intimacy to the raindrops falling from the eaves as they wash over the base of a stone lantern and freshen the moss about the stepping stones. And the toilet is the perfect place to listen to the chirping of insects or the song of the birds, to view the moon, or to enjoy any of those poignant moments that mark the change of the seasons. Here, I suspect, is where haiku poets over the ages have come by a great many of their ideas.”3 3Junichiro Tanizaki. Naomi. Translation of English version by María Luisa Balseiro. Madrid · Siruela, cop. 2011, p. 260.

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Jun’ichiro Tanizaki During the break the Second World War involved, Tanizaki writes the monumental The Makikoka Sisters, where he portrays the everyday life of a family of traders from Ôsaka, and already in the Postwar he turns back to sexual desire topics and the bourgeois life that he had approached in the first years of his career. In this last period we highlight Diary of a Mad Old Man (Fûten rôjin nikki, 1962), where we witness the sickening relationship between an old man and his daughter in law, and The Key (Kagi, 1956), an erotic intrigue novel where Tanizaki proves his mastery in the art of literary manipulation.

Title: La clau / Junichiro Tanizaki; translation by Albert Nolla Publication: Barcelona · Edicions 62, 2002 Description: 135 pages; 23 cm

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Yasunari Kawabata Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) is the first Japanese writer to win the Literature Nobel Prize in 1968. Despite his beginnings as a member of the Neo-Sensationist experimental school, Kawabata’s work is connected to the most traditional Japanese aesthetics, based on beauty and its suggestive capacity. In fact, Kawabata himself guarantees that his prose, created based on compiling images, dialogues and sensations, is closer to the renga and haiku lyrical tradition than to the novelistic tradition. Kawabata lives an unstable childhood, marked by the death of all the members of his family before he turned 15. It seems that the loneliness and the rootlessness he experiments during his childhood really influenced the melancholic feel of this work, where the pass of time, feeling of loss and death are always present.

Title: País de nieve / Yasunari Kawabata; translation by César Durán Publication: Barcelona · Emecé, 2003 Description: 177 pages; 22 cm

Kawabata became well known in the literary circles with the story The Dancing Girl of Izu (Izu no odoriko, 1926), the story of a young student from Tokyo who during a trip meets a group of travelling artists and that already advances some of the topics that will be very present in Kawabata’s work, such as the purity of emotions, non consummated love and the fascination for young and innocent girls. These topics are repeated in Snow Country (Yukiguni), which originally was published between 1935 and 1937 but that did not have a definitive version until 1948. The novel is focused on a trip of a businessman from Tokyo to a mountain resort where he goes to meet a geisha he had met on a prior trip. The plot is not much more complicated and the true centre of the work is in the descriptions of beautiful and ephemeral images that characterize Kawabata’s prose.The first chapter, where the train journey of the main character to the exotic Snow Country is especially representative of the descriptive style of Kawabata, translated by Edward Seidensticker (Snow Country /Yasunari Kawabata):

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Yasunari Kawabata “In the depths of the mirror the evening landscape moved by, the mirror and the reflected figures like motion pictures superimposed one on the other.The figures and the background were unrelated, and yet the figures, transparent and intangible, and the background, dim in the gathering darkness, melted into a sort of symbolic world not of this world. Particularly when a light out in the mountains shone in the center of the girl's face, Shimamura felt his chest rise at the inexpressible beauty of it.” Just after the Second World War, Kawabata publishes another two novels which, together with Snow Country, make up what Kawabata himself defines as “the elegies of lost Japan”. It consists of Thousand Cranes (Sembazuru, 1949-1951), an imposible love story placed in the symbolic world of the tea ceremony and The Sound of the Mountain (Yama no oto, 1949-1954), where an old man who feels death very close only finds comfort in the innocent relationship he has with his daughter in law and in the imaginary presence of a woman he really loved, his sister in law.

The last highlighted work by Kawabata is The House of the Sleeping Beauties (Nemureru bijo, 1961), a short novel placed in a kind of hostel frequented by old people who want to spend the night with virgin and drugged young girls.

Title: La bailarina de Izu / Yasunari Kawabata; translation by María Martoccia Publication: Buenos Aires · Emecé, 2006 Description: 219 pages; 23 cm

During the last years of his life, Kawabata is a very popular character in Japan and he is devoted more to his public activity than to literature. This public activity took him to become the President of the PEN Japanese Club and to promote the new values of Japanese literature, among which authors such as Yukio Mishima and Masuji Ibuse can be found. Kawabata committed suicide in his studio in Kamakura on the 16th of April 1972, three years and a few months after having been awarded with the Nobel Prize, for reasons that have never become clear.

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Modern Literature (1868-1945) Recommendations Title: Botchan / Natsume Soseki; translation of the japanese by José Pazó Espinosa; introduction by Andrés Ibáñez Publication: Madrid · Impedimenta, 2008 Description: 234 pages; 20 cm

Title: La Casa de las bellas durmientes / Yasunari Kawabata; translation by Pilar Giralt Publication: Esplugues de Llobregat · Orbis, DL 1983 Description: 150 pages; 21 cm

Title: Cuentos / Ryunosuke Akutagawa; translation by Acacio Gutiérrez, Josefina Keiko Ezaki; illustrated by Torin Hashimoto Publication: Tokio · Casa de España, cop. 1995 Description: 166 pages; il. (some col.), dib.; 21 cm

Title: La Bailarina / Ogai Mori; translation of the japanese by Yoko Ogihara and Fernando Cordobés Publication: Madrid · Impedimenta, 2011 Description: 77 pages; 18 cm

Title: Rivalry: a geisha's tale / Nagai Kafu; translation by Stephen Snyder Publication: New York · Columbia University Press, c2007 Description: 2 volumes; 771 pages - 832 pages; 17 cm

Title: Mil grullas / Yasunari Kawabata; translation by María Martoccia Publication: Barcelona · Emecé, 2005 Description: 141 pages; 22 cm

Literary Route Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) In the years of postwar and the North American occupation (19451952) there is another boom of literary production, starred by the generation of aesthetic writers as if the war had never happened, and by a new generation of authors who just want to express their experience of the war and the unease that controls the Japanese society for these years. Among the works that approach the experience lived in the war brings up Fires on the Plain (Nobi, 1952), where Shôhei Ôoka (1909-1988) described the past years as a soldier in the Philippines and makes a plea against the war. A subgenus of literature generated by the war consists of works focused on the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Most of these works, which are grouped under the denomination of genbaku (or those of the atomic bomb) literature, are written by survivors of the catastrophe that narrate the horror, even though often the immediacy of the experience doesn’t allow the creation of a truly valuable literature. In fact, the most outstanding title of genbaku literature is the novel Black Rain (Kuroi ame, 1966), written many years later by Masuji Ibuse, who hadn’t experienced the catastrophe in first person.

Title: Lluvia negra / Masuji Ibuse Publication: Barcelona · Libros del Asteroide, 2007 Description: 388 pages; 20 cm

The unease of the postwar years have left the writers of the burai-ha (or “decadent school”) who see the world as a caotic place ruled by the wrong values. Considering themselves debtors of the French Existentialism, the authors of burai-ha react before defeat writing deeply pessimistic works that strike the public in the first years of postwar and leave a self-destructing legacy that even today fascinates many Japanese readers. The best known representative of this current is Osamu Dazai (1909-1948), author of nihilistic novels such as The Setting Sun (Shayô, 1947) and No Longer Human (Nigen shikkaku, 1948). During the decades of the 1950’s and 1960’s a new generation of authors appears that is able to overcome the trauma of the war and

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Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) broaden the topics and ways of expression of the Japanese arts. It is a period when Japanese literature is renewed and diversified thanks to the beautiful writing of Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), to asphyxiating novels and with Kafkian echoes by Kôbô Abe (1924-1993), to Christian inspiration satirical statements by Akiyuki Nosaka (1930) or to the social commitment literature by Kenzaburô Ôe (1935). During these decades an outstanding change is taken place in literature written by women, probably thanks to the new Constitution in 1947, which establishes gender equality, the growth of the literary market that admits a bigger and bigger variety. The authors that start to write in these years –Taeko Kôno (1926-2000), Minako Ôba (1936-2007) or Sawako Ariyoshi (1931-1984)– are accepted in the literary circles and, despite approaching the same topics as before the war –maternity, marriage, gender inequality-, they overcome the excessively autobiographic or confessional style of their predecessors. Unfortunately, the works of these writers has scarcely been translated in the West, which is why they are still unknown in our country.

Title: Indigno de ser humano / Osamu Dazai; translation of the original by Montse Watkins Publication: Tokio · Gendaikikakushitsu; Kanagawaken, Japan · Luna Books, 1999 Description: 130 pages; 21 cm

Throughout the decade of 1970’s and as Japan begins to occupy a position as an economic power on a global level, the first generation of authors born after the war arises. Unlike the previous generation, this new lot of authors –led by Kenji Nakagami (1946-1992), Haruki Murakami (1949), Ryû Murakami (1952), Banana Yoshimoto (1964), etc.– has grown in a prosperous society and therefore it is not strange for their works to be characterized by the absence of a political or social commitment. In fact, some voices have considered them the “empty generation” and have accused them of frivolous or amoral. Another criticism they often receive is the fact that, more than quality literature, they write a kind of seudo-literature “polluted” by concepts, genres and styles as diverse as consumerism, science-fiction, pop, pornography, punk or manga.

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Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) With all this, it is undeniable that this generation, which we could qualify as Postmodern as it portrays a fragmented world without a clear centre, is not that far from reality as some of its detractors would like to make people believe, and with its works it is providing Japanese literature of new contents and ways of expression that reflect the present, marked by economic and cultural globalization, the excess of information or vague and changing identities.

Title: The TwilightYears / Sawako Ariyoshi; translation by Mildred Tahara Publication: Londres 路 Peter Owen, 1984 Description: 216 pages; 22 cm

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today)

Literary Route Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) is one of the best known Japanese writers outside his country. This success is due to the quality of his artistic production –which includes novels, essays, plays and films- and to his capacity to create a controversial character that attracts the interest of the media and the public opinion all over the world. After studying Law and working for a short period of time at the Ministry of Finances, Mishima begins his literary career with Confessions of a Mask (Kamen no kokuhaku, 1949), a novel where he describes the internal life of a young man who feels attracted by men, beauty and violence. During the decade of the 1950’s, Mishima writes a series of very different works with great quality, among which we highlight The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji, 1956), where he tells the story of a Buddhist monk captivated by the beauty of a temple. The first paragraphs of the novel give certain clear clues of the obsession of the main character which will have tragic consequences: 78

Title: El pabellón de oro / Yukio Mishima; translation by Juan Marsé Publication: Barcelona · Seix Barral, cop. 2007 Description: 318 pages; 23 cm

“In May evenings at dusk, I contemplated the hills from the little room in my uncle’s house where I used to do my homework. Under the western rays, its mountainsides covered in new leaves looked like spread out golden screens in middle of the plain. But what I saw was the Golden Pavilion. Often, in photographs and school books, my eyes had contemplated the real Golden Pavilion. However, this image, the one of the Golden Temple in my father’s stories replaced any other in my heart.What my father hadn’t told me about the real Golden Pavilion was that for example it gleamed with a thousand golden brilliances. But according to him there was nothing in the world that equalled it in beauty: the Golden Pavilion that was being recorded in my mind with the simple sound of his words, only seeing its letters, I found it had something fabulous… I saw the rice fields shimmer from far away.‘It’s the golden shadow of the invisible temple’, he used to say”4

4Translation by Casa Asia.

Literary Route

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Yukio Mishima From the decade of the 1960’s, Mishima is more and more interested in politics, especially in right wing ideology and in the figure of the emperor. His work begins to reflect this new orientation in several novels, essays and plays. From this period we highlight the tetralogy, made up of Spring Snow5 (Haru no yuki), Runaway Horses6 (Honba), The Temple of Dawn7 (Akatsuki no tera) y The Decay of the Angel8 (Tennin gosui), is an ambitious revision of the history of Japan throughout the 20th century from the encounters of a young man called Honda with four people who are the reincarnation of the same human being. Parellelly to the creation of this tetralogy, Mishima founded the “Take no tai” (or “Shield Society”), a kind of private army made up by students related to the right and joined by the promise of supporting the emperor. The “military” activities of Mishima reach their culmination on the 25th of November 1970, when just after handing in the last volume of The Sea of Fertility, he burst into the barracks of the Self-Defence Forces of the centre of Tokyo, where he gave a passionate speech against the peaceful Constitution of 1947 and the relationship between Japan and the United States before the presence of some soldiers of the army and he then commits seppuku, one of the most spectacular suicides of the recent history of Japan.

Tetralogy Take no tai

5Yukio Mishima. Nieve de primavera. Translation by Domingo Manfredi. Barcelona · Caralt, 2000. p. 351 6Yukio Mishima. Caballos desbocados. Translation by Pablo Mañé Garzón. Barcelona · Caralt, 2000, p. 407 7 Yukio Mishima. El Templo del alba.Translation by Guillermo Solana. Barcelona · Caralt, 1999. p. 330 8 Yukio Mishima. La Corrupción de un ángel. Translation by Guillermo Solana. Barcelona · Caralt, 2000, p. 218

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today)

Literary Route Kenzaburo Oe

Kenzaburô Ôe (1935), the second Japanese writer who recieved the Literature Nobel Prize in 1994, after Kawabata was awarded it in 1968, is author of a dense and committed work to political and social issues always placed within the context of the postwar of Japan. After a first few controversial stories due to its nihilistic tone and political content –such as The Catch (Shiiku, 1958) or Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids9 (Memushiri kouchi, 1958)–, Oê’s life changed radically in 1963 with the birth of his first son, Hikari, with a mental disability. This experience makes Oê’s work to have a more humanist tone, which is clearly shown in A Personal Matter (Kojintekina taiken, 1964), a novel that evolves around Bird, a young man who overcomes the temptations of abandoning his retarded son and ends up assuming the responsibility required. The following fragment, by John Nathan (A personal matter / Kenzaburo Oe) belongs to the ending of the novel, when Bird gets out of the hospital with his son and wife prepared to start a new life.

"As a matter of fact, I kept trying to run away. And I almost did. But it seems that reality compels you to live properly when you live in the real world. I mean, even if you intended to get yourself caught in a trap of deception, you find somewhere along the line that your only choice is to avoid it." Bird was surprised at the muted resentment in his voice. "That's what I found, any way." "But it is possible to live in the real world in a quite different way, Bird.There are people who leap frog from one deception to another until the day they die."

Title: Una cuestión personal / Kenzaburo Oé; translation of the japanese by Yoonah Kim; in collaboration with Roberto Fernández Sastre Publication: Barcelona · Anagrama, D.L. 1994 Description: 189 pages; 20 cm

The humanistic character of Oê’s work can be seen in Hiroshima Notes (Hiroshima nôto, 1964), a work that he writes from several interviews with survivors of the atomic bomb and where he explores human dignity and the ability to overcome misfortunes.

9Kenzaburo Oé. Arrancad las semillas, fusilad a los niños. Translation of the japanese Miguel Wandenbergh. Barcelona · Anagrama, 2002, p. 183

Literary Route

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Kenzaburo Oé Since the decade of the 1970’s and until the present, Oê’s work has swung around two basic axis. On the one hand there are works focused on the coexistence with his son Hikari –such as Teach Us to Outgrow our Madness10(Warera no kyôki wo ikinobiru michi wo oshie yo, 1969) or Rouse Up OYoung Men of the New Age!11 (Atarashii hito yo mezame yo, 1983)–, and on the other, the novels that go through the historical trajectory of Japan from a perspective focused on the myths of his childhood in the Island of Shikoku- such as The Silent Cry12 (Man’en gannen no futtoboru, 1967) or Letter for Nostalgic Years (Natsukashii toshi e no tegami, 1987). One of the most significative texts to get to know about the opinions of Oê about literature and his country is the acceptance speech of the Literature Nobel Prize in 1994, called Japan, the Ambiguous and Myself13, where he moves away from the aesthetic and non committed literature by Kawabata and other authors of the 20th century and from the rapid economic development of postwar Japan.

Title: Cartas a los años de nostalgia / Kenzaburo Oé; translation of the japanese by Miguel Wandenbergh Publication: Barcelona · Anagrama, D.L. 1997 Description: 219 pages; 23 cm 10Kenzaburo Oé. Dinos cómo sobrevivir a nuestra locura.Translation of the japanese by Shigeko Suzuki i Elena Vilageliu. Barcelona · Anagrama, 1998, p. 205 11Kenzaburo Oé. ¡Despertad, oh jóvenes de la nueva era!.Translation of the japanese by Ricardo Ogata. Barcelona · Seix Barral, 2005, p. 301 12Kenzaburo Oé. El grito silencioso. Translation of the japanese by Miguel Wandenbergh. Barcelona · Anagrama, DL 2000, p. 345 13http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1994/oe-lecture.html

Literary Route

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Haruki Murakami Haruki Murakami (1949) is the internationally best known Japanese writer. His work is a mixture of popular and serious literature, with touches of magic realism and science fiction, which has attracted a large amount of readers in Japan and abroad. The topics we often find in this work are nostalgia for his years of youth, the disappearing and search for beloved ones or the tension between the interests of the capitalist and Consumerist State and those of the individual. After following theatre studies at the University of Waseda and of going to a jazz bar in Tokyo between 1974 and 1981, Murakami decides to be exclusively devoted to literature, field where, as well as writing novels and essays, he has translated North American authors such as Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver, John Irving or Truman Capote. Murakami’s production during the 1980’s is made up of tetralogy narrated by “boku” (jo), a character that lives immersed in a feeling of rootlessness and rebelliousness with which young people in the decades of the 1960’s an 1970’s grew up in. The titles that formed this tetralogy are Hear the Wind sing (Kaze no uto wo kike, 1979), Pinball, 1973 (1973 no pinbôru, 1980), A Wild Sheep Chase14 (Hitsuji wo meguru bôken, 1982) and Dance Dance Dance (Dansu, dansu, dansu, 1988).

Title: Tòquio blues / Haruki Murakami; translation of the japanese by Albert Nolla Publication: Barcelona · Empúries, 2010 Description: 302 pages; 23 cm

The publication of Norwegian Wood (Noruê no mori, 1988), the story of a love triangle marked by tragedy, turns Murakami in a celebrity in Japan and launches him internationally. The first paragraphs of the novel, in version by Jay Rubin (Norwegian Wood / Haruki Murakami) introduce the story in flashback and show the melancholic and cosmopolitan style of Murakami. “I was 37 then, strapped in my seat as the huge 747 plunged through dense cloud cover on approach to Hamburg airport. Cold November rains drenched the earth, lending everything the gloomy air of a Flemish landscape: the ground 14Haruki Murakami. La caza del carnero salvaje.Translation of the japanese by Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo y Gavala. Barcelona · Anagrama, DL 1992, p. 329

Literary Route

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Haruki Murakami crew in waterproofs, a flag atop a squat airport building, a BMW billboard. So - Germany again. Once the plane was on the ground, soft music began to flow from the ceiling speakers: a sweet orchestral cover version of the Beatles' "NorwegianWood".The melody never failed to send a shudder through me, but this time it hit me harder than ever.” Having lived in Europe and the United States at the beginning of the 1990’s, Murakami returns to Japan in 1995 after, with a few months difference, two misfortunes that devastate the country take place: the earthquake that devastated the city of Kôbe and the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo underground. Worried about the value crisis he observes in the Japanese society, Murakami acquires a greater and greater social commitment that is proved in his fiction works and essays, which are more and more convincing.

Among his last fiction titles, the monumental TheWind-Up Bird Chronicle (Nejimakidori kuronikuru, 1996) stands out, which can be read as a metaphor of the control of the State on individual consciences, or After the Quake (Kami no kodomo-tachi wa mina odoru, 2000) that is a collection of stories inspired in the Kôbe earthquake. The great critic and sales success Haruki Murakami has achieved internationally has involved a great encouragement for many readers and editors to approach other Japanese authors.

Title: Crònica de l'ocell que dóna corda al món / Haruki Murakami; translation of the japanese by Albert Nolla Publication: Barcelona · La butxaca, Edicions 62, DL 2001 Description: 833 pages; 21 cm

Literary Route

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Banana Yoshimoto Banana Yoshimoto (1964), pseudonym of Maiko Yoshimito, is the best known Japanese writer in the West, where thanks to her peculiar formula of approaching thorny topics such as death, illness and loneliness with touches of optimism and naivety, has earned a large number of faithful readers, especially among the young and female public. Born in Tokyo in 1964 in the bosom of an intellectual family,Yoshimoto follows art and literature studies at the University of Japan and is made known with Kitchen (Kitchin, 1987), a novel that unleashes the phenomenon of “Bananamania” and that can use any kind of description that goes from the voice of the Japanese X Generation to the last exponent of the teenager subculture. Kitchen, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in Japan has increased 60 editions, tells the story of Mikage, a young girl who after the death of her grandmother feels lonely and disoriented and accepts to live in the house of a colleague she hardly knows. The first pages of the novel, translated by Megan Backus advance the situations marked by death and loneliness that the main character must overcome:

Title: Kitchen / Banana Yoshimoto; translation of the japanese by Junichi Matsuura and Lourdes Porta Publication: Barcelona · Tusquets, 1991 Description: 206 pages; 21 cm

“The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it's a kitchen, if it's a place where they make food, it's fine with me. Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels, dry and immaculate. White tile catching the light (ting! ting!). I love even incredibly dirty kitchens to distraction-vegetable droppings all over the floor, so dirty your slippers turn black on the bottom. Strangely, it's better if this kind of kitchen is large. I lean up against the silver door of a towering, giant refrigerator stocked with enough food to get through a winter.When I raise my eyes from the oil-spattered gas burner and the rusty kitchen knife, outside the window stars are glittering, lonely.” After Kitchen, Yoshimoto has followed a prolific career that has taken her to write more than twenty bestsellers, among which we can mention

Literary Route

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Banana Yoshimoto Tsugumi (Tsugumi, 1989), N.P. (N.P., 1990), Amrita (Amurita, 1994) or Memories of a Dead End15 (Deddendo no omoide, 2003).

Title: Amrita / Banana Yoshimoto; translation by Mercedes Corral Publication: Barcelona · Tusquets, 2002 Description: 346 pages; 22 cm

15Banana Yoshimoto. Recuerdos de un callejón sin salida. Translation of the japanese by Gabriel Álvarez Martínez. Barcelona · Tusquets, 2011, p. 212

Contemporary Literature (1945 to today) Recommendations

Literary Route

Title: 1Q84: llibres 1 i 2 / Haruki Murakami; translation of the japanese by Jordi Mas López Publication: Barcelona · Empúries, 2011 Description: 782 pages; 23 cm

Title: Flores de verano / Tamiki Hara; translation of the japanese and prologue by Yoko Ogihara and Fernando Cordobés Publication: Madrid · Impedimenta, 2011 Description: 120 pages; 20 cm

Title: Azul casi transparente / Riu Murakami; translation by Jorge G. Berlanga Publication: Barcelona · Anagrama, cop. 1997 Description: 143 pages; 19 cm

Title: Hogueras en la llanura / Shohei Ooka; prologue José Jiménez Lozano; translation of the japanese original by Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo y Gavala Publication: Barcelona · Libros del Asteroide, 2006 Description: 235 pages; 20 cm

Title: Confesiones de una máscara / Yukio Mishima; translation by Andrés Bosch Publication: Madrid · Espasa Calpe, cop. 2002 Description: 239 pages; 22 cm

Title: La presa / Kenzaburo Oé; translation of the japanese by Yoonah Kim; in collaboration with Joaquín Jordá Publication: Barcelona · Anagrama, 2000 Description: 114 pages; 20 cm